


A Dimension With a View

by IsoscelesMonster



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, Gravity Falls AU, diary au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 02:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6405511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsoscelesMonster/pseuds/IsoscelesMonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lost artist finds a quiet moment while traveling the multiverse, and has a rather one-sided conversation with an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dimension With a View

The young woman sat cross-legged in front of a boulder, her back to the sunset. Well, one of the sunsets. It was nice, quiet for once. Quiet for now, she reminded herself. Nothing lasted. She'd learned that one the hard way.

But it was quiet, and nice, and nothing was trying to kill her or eat her right now. You had to be happy about the little things, or you'd find yourself letting years of dimension hopping get to you and then where would you be?

She didn't know where she was anyway. She'd started naming the worlds, because numbers felt too impersonal and besides she'd lost count. This world didn't have a name yet. She liked to be friends before she gave them names, even if things didn't always work out that way.

Maybe things never work out how you want them to, but she didn't want to believe that. Not even now.

Was she really going to do this? She wasn't even sure if it would work, not really. Wasn't sure how far was too far, wasn't sure if distance had meaning. Some days she wasn't sure if anything had meaning, really, in the end. Maybe people had simply made up the idea and convinced themselves they were right, because otherwise the universe was a lot bigger and scarier and lonelier. She remembered when she'd found out how this worked, though. That had been an embarrassing day, to say the least. She'd done a lot of redecorating, and it had taken her about a week to stop blushing. Those were the days.

She scratched a fingernail into the earth at the base of the boulder before smudging it against the stone; it didn't show up as well as she would have liked. That wouldn't do. 

Something caught her eye as she moved, though. Damn, apparently she needed to change the bandage on her arm again. Time to sacrifice this sweater for good. But then again, that was a pretty colour of red. She snorted. She'd been so picky about her paints, back in the day. Only the best. Well, sometimes you make do.

Besides. He'd like the choice. He liked blood.

He'd probably laugh.

She laughed herself, quietly and with no audience. It probably wasn't funny. She probably just hadn't slept properly in weeks. It took her a moment before she could stop and catch her breath. She unwrapped the makeshift bandage on her arm, a souvenir from the last world--that one had a name, but not one she was entirely comfortable saying out loud.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and finally began to draw. Her lines were neat and precise, almost second nature. After all, the symbol was as familiar as could be, even now. 

She paused, resting her finger against her lips. She wasn't sure if this was a gesture she meant or if she were simply hesitating.

The tang of copper brought her back to the moment.

She smeared the final line down the stone.

"...Hey, babe." She paused, wondering if she was being sarcastic or not.  
"Buddy. Pal. Sweetheart. Bastard." None of the words quite fit, even the last one, so she went on. "Long time no see." She smiled, tiredly, but like this was a private joke.

"Can you hear me? Here's hoping you can read lips at least. If you can see me at all. Maybe I'm talking to myself. Wouldn't be new."

She paused again, took a breath and kept herself from falling back into that nearly hysterical laughter, and sighed, shifting to rest her chin on her hand.

"I'm not even angry anymore. Not really." She wasn't sure if this was true. There were still days she wanted to kill him, days she wanted to hurt him, watch him suffer, make him understand what he'd done. There were days she wanted to kiss him, too. There were days she wanted to do both.

Today was none of these days. Today, she was tired. Today she felt like a small girl who missed her best friend.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm going to beat you. 'Cause you want the world, and my brother's in the world. He might be a dweeb, but he's _my_ dweeb. So maybe you've gotta die." 

She said this matter of factly. She might not have been happy about it, but sometimes you couldn't have everything. Sometimes you couldn't have anything.

"But some days..." She looked away. "Some days, I get it. I think I understand you. Just a _little._ How you got this way. Why you're so... why you want to burn things. Break things. Hurt people." 

She didn't like those days. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She wouldn't, of course. She wouldn't do it. That was the difference. That was what mattered. She was a good person, because she chose to be good person, because that's how it worked. Actions were what mattered, whatever the unicorns might say.

"But hey. This place has nice sunsets. Two every day! They're pretty, and I know sometimes you actually care about that. So I'm gonna leave this here, okay? It should be out of the rain."

She tapped a finger against the symbol, checking that it was dry, before laying her hand against it. She didn't know if she was reaching out or blocking the view of her face.

"Maybe... maybe, if I find you enough pretty things to look at, you won't want to break everything anymore."

\-----

Archeologists and explorers across the multiverse have noticed a curious if unimportant phenomenon. From time to time, people are known to find symbols drawn on any available surface.

Sometimes they are in blood, sometimes mud, chalk, paint. Sometimes the hand drawing them is steady, sometimes shaking. Sometimes they are carved into stones or walls or the sides of mountains, lines cut into the very world, deep and permanent.

Only two things are consistent: The symbol is simple, an eye surrounded by a triangle, and It's always drawn somewhere with a fantastic view.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a friend. This is a slice out of something she and I refer to as the Diary AU, in which Dipper and Mabel were the earlier set of twins, and Mabel was the one who got mixed up with Bill. Whilst staying in gravity falls for the summer, young Stanley and Stanford find her diary and her art inspired by the creatures she encountered.


End file.
